Birdsong
by MessengerOfDreams
Summary: I thought I ended it with the break of his neck... but his song is all that is coming out of my mouth.  Rated high teen for death, violence, and implied sexual situations.  Based off of Florence and the Machine's song


**A/N- Written because Florence and the Machine is freaking awesome. This story is extremely dark and is recommended for those who can handle late teen oriented works, with some directly implied sexual situations and some pretty graphic violence that happens in bursts. I think I maintained this just outside of an M, just as similar fics by L'amour Consommez by PitFTW danced around it, just peaking in the T rating, and as fics by Pikana have as well. Be prepared, if you venture.**

Oh, how it all went wrong, the day that damned bird showed up at the door of my house.

Despite the fact that I was in the Smash Tournament, we didn't all live together. We all were given money for house hunting, on the Tourney itself, around the stadium in Junction City. Sure, we had some comradeship, and I knew a lot of people very well. In fact, I had met my boyfriend, Ike, there. We had that typical beautiful romance, and... he really opened me up to a lot of things, most of them within myself. I loved him... which made everything more painful.

Really, everything went to hell when the doorbell rang on a misty Saturday night. I remember opening the door to see that my neighborhood, the Old-Town section, looked like I was in a black and white movie. The mist drained the color out of its surroundings, making a rather intriguing, if not harrowing scene. Perhaps what was most jarring was that sharply contrasting the nearby scenery were a mohawk consisting of bright blue feathers. It caused me to jolt a little bit, so unlike me, but I had found myself under the circumstances very nervous.

His greeting wasn't exactly warm either, as if Falco was ever cuddly. I never cared for the guy, so when he started with "Samus. We need to talk." Half of me wanted to slap him in the face for being such a douche, but half of me was nervous. All I could think of was _He couldn't possibly know..._

"I caught you and Marth on Fountain of Dreams," he spat without a hint of subtlety.

_Oh good god... he knows._

I feigned innocence and shock at his statement. "...what the hell?" I hissed. "You show up on my doorstep, and accuse me of infidelity? How... dare you."

Falco looked genuinely hurt... and somewhat disappointed, which was a stab to the gut. "How... could you..." he hissed angrily. "Ike loved you. He never was an affectionate, loving person, but he talked about you all the time. It started to get annoying as hell, but I kind of appreciated it, because he's a good person after all. But... I'm just astonished."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I tried again.

His face contorted in rage. "What am I talking about?" he shouted. "How... dare you try and cover this up! Ike is one of my best friends! Do I have to stress that _he loved you. _And you screwed his best friend in one of the most innocent places in the stadium! What's next, doing Link in downtown Onett?"

"Shut up!" I hissed, worried the neighbors were going to catch on to his angry words. Didn't want that to happen. Trying to appear calm, I managed to say "Come inside, Falco, and we'll work these accusations out."

Falco stormed in, pushing past me. I wanted to snap at him, but he was shuddering. He seemed truly shaken by what happened. When he wasn't looking, I shook with a single sob, knowing everything was going to crumble down.

He stood in the middle of my living room. A room that was very sparse, like its owner. I never did like decorating. He stood right in the center of the room, surrounded by dull colored furniture.

He waited until I nervously waited to take a seat, and he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a 4 x 6 photo, handing it to me stoically. I glanced at its contents and gasped, metaphorical knives in my throat preventing me from speaking.

He had taken the liberty of shooting a video of Marth and I in the act. A somewhat explicit photo, that made me blush upon seeing it. He growled and told me "I didn't feel right at first, after walking in on you two in secret, taking a photo like that, but I... I am not going to let Ike live knowing you did this to him, and no longer shall you try and deny this." With a dry chuckle, he added "And for the record, I found myself not at all attracted to this situation. Know my motives clearly."

I was in shock, and all I could say was a hoarse "Bullshit." I got up in a violent stance, confronting the bird head on."You keep this up, you little bird, and this will be the last song you ever sing." I was astonished at my sudden death threat, but unrelenting.

He shifted his approach to more cordial, placing an arm around my neck with a look of disappointment in his gaze. The most chilling part is that it's just as genuine as his hurt. I try to avoid his gaze, but he tilts my head with his hand softly so that I have no choice but to face him.

"Samus," he tried unsteadily, "I know you're better than this. You may not know me well, but I've learned a bit about you from a distance, and you're genuinely a good person. A smart one. I don't care why you cheated on him- a moment of twisted passion, a longtime affair, I don't care. But you have to settle this. Grow a pair, and tell Ike. It's the only-"

"No!" I gasped. I started shaking with horrid adrenaline and fear. "Y-y-you're going to ruin e-everything!"

"Samus!" he noticed my change of pace and was trying to talk me down. "You're the one who ruined everything! You're going to have to face it. This can't-"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" I started shrieking, and in a move of rage, I shoved him against the wall. He didn't look too scared or unprepared, he figured that I'd be talked down if he kept trying.

Well, he thought wrong.

"Samus, just please-" was all he said before I jumped him one last time and in one fell swoop, twisted his neck until I heard it break with a sickening crack.

He jerked around a bit in reaction, before he fell to the ground. Amid his gurgles, I could make out three bits of words. "But- Ka-kaaatt- I..." And that was it. He was dead.

It's a sickening feeling, when someone dies. It didn't matter that I barely knew him. I realized that there was going to be a gap among the smashers, among all the people, that would never be filled. I knew plenty of death; had caused plenty of death, but I never killed someone so... close to me. Sure, I barely knew him... but I saw him every day. It was haunting.

Without knowing what else to do, I ran into my bedroom in a futile effort of escape.

But I didn't sleep. Oh, no no no no. Even in his death, he won't shut the hell up.

I spend the first half hour replaying his words, his attempts to solve the situation. They played over and over and never stopped. I shoved my head into my pillow, trying to drown them out, but they didn't leave. Finally, I gasped for breath and ran out into the living room, hoping I could confirm this was all a nightmare and Falco wasn't dead in my living room.

I wasn't so lucky. He was still sprawled on the floor, his neck at a grotesque angle. I screamed and kicked his body in frustration and ran back into my room, trying to sleep again. But this time it was his last words that haunted me.

I'd heard of plenty of people saying the names of those they loved as last words. But he didn't just say "Katt," he said "But Katt, I..." He wasn't just saying the name, he was desperate. Desperate to live for her. As if he knew he had missed his chance.

I couldn't imagine never meeting Ike. Never telling him I loved him.

Desperately I ran out to check for his body again. It was still there. I fell on my knees and started to sob, pleading God to fix this, to bring him back, to turn back the hands of time that were busy bitchslapping me. But God wasn't going to save me now. Nothing was ever going to change. "Why, God?" I begged.

_You're the one who ruined everything. You're just going to have to face it._

"Shut u-hu-hu-hup..." I pleaded through my sobs. I fell over, sprawled on my hardwood floor across from a dead body. My memory decided to torture me more with one of the few memories of Falco, trading banter with his best friend Fox, words that seemed harsh but were rambled in a lighthearted tongue. Oh, God, Fox... he's going to be devastated. And Katt... and Pit... and Ike.

Oh, God, Ike.

I couldn't take it anymore. I lifted up Falco's mangled body, and feathers fly all over the place. I should have probably been prepared; put some rubber gloves on at least, but I was half-mad. I run out back, hoping no one was looking. Luckily, no one was, and I was able to throw him in the trunk of my sedan without arousing suspicion.

I jumped into the car, trying to maintain my speed through the city, the mist obscuring my vision and providing a sordid backdrop to the situation. I drove thirty miles out, until I am by Takomi Lake, just outside the city, a large crater of water, really, with an almost immediate drop restricted to boats only. I parked in front of the empty state park, and I lifted his body out and threw it into the bottom of the lake, trying to do it at top speed as if that will make it go away.

I drove home as fast as the speed limit would let me, and as soon as I parked in the back behind my brick house I got a heavy duty cleaner from under my sink and started to scrub the trunk as hard as I could, until the blood is barely visible. Then I rushed inside and picked up all the feathers, taking them out to the back and with a candle lighter, burning them into nothingness. Then, in panic, I scrubbed every inch of my floor through the whole house, to make sure he left no blood.

By the time I finished, it's 5:30 in the morning. I realized that I would have to get ready for the big breakfast Peach had spent a week preparing. She was enthusiastic, insistent, and invited a good few of the squad to the meal down at a fancy restaurant. If I didn't want to look suspicious, I'd have to go. For some reason, I took my pistol with me. Perhaps because I didn't feel safe anymore. How could I?

So, nervously putting on my only dress, I made my way out of the living room I had killed a man in, through the kitchen I had wiped up his blood and feathers in, and into the car where I took his dead body and dumped it in a lake where children fished with their grandfathers.

At the very least, no one has to know...

Peach met me outside the door of the restaurant with a large affectionate hug, glad to see me as she was one of my closest friends. I met her on her first day, the woman with such intent to break her bonds of weakness, but still be so optimistic and never sacrificing herself, and being so much stronger than she looked. Kind of inspiring.

And as she hugged me with the utmost love she could have for a friend, I felt nauseous because she was hugging the murderer of her close friend.

"So great to see you, Sammie!" she giggled, excited. "Some of the others are inside. Want me to take you to their table?"

"Uh... yeah," I forced myself to say. Peach smiled and let me go, walking into the restaurant, every step looking like she could float. She had such a beautiful aura about her. A true friend.

She led me to a table, which had Pit, Zelda, Link and, sickeningly enough, Marth, Ike and Fox. To compound my torment, Peach stated somewhat absentmindedly "Well, the only people we are missing are Falco and Nana, and then the gang's all here."

Ike smiled. "Master of preparation, aren't you, Peach?"

"I pride myself in that," Peach giggled again. "Rented out the whole place. A bit of a splurge. Never do splurges much, but this was worth it."

"Totally," I tried interjecting. "Totally falcing awesome- I mean, freaking!"

There were polite, naïve chuckles for my mistake, brushing it off as a genuine slip of the tongue. They had no idea. It was horrifying.

"So, guys," Peach asked, "you having a good weekend?"

Her attempt at small talk was a slice to the ribs. I was certainly not having a good weekend. I wanted to talk first, but I was calculating everything I did to make myself look less suspicious. It was racking my brain and tearing my nerves up.

Marth went first. "Oh," he stated, his tone slinky, "my weekend was very pleasant. Saw some friends, met a cute girl, very nice indeed." Ike clapped his back in friendly support, not knowing that the cute girl he saw was me. Marth was disgusting me. Not even a look of remorse as his best friend said "Congratulations! Knew you had it in you!"

Zelda smiled cordially herself. "Hopefully some of the other, darker smashers would stop those demeaning rumors about your... preferences." Every word was calculated like a princess should, to keep from indecency. That's probably what she reasoned with herself. She was never truly honest.

It suddenly disgusted me.

I tried talking. "Yeah, they're so bloody about it-" Damn it! "...you know, merciless. Like taking a reputation and snapping its neck- gah! I mean-"

I was a step away from blowing everything and ending my own life. Everyone was giving me odd glances but going back to their coffee. I hadn't touched mine.

"Anyway," Ike stated, "The next matches start Monday. What's your first match, Samus?" He gave me that endearing look, that look of pure love, and something else I couldn't determine.

I blurted out with couth "Me and Marth on Fountain of Dreams, I mean..." Matches were the furthest thing from my mind. I looked up at the expansive restaurant, the white halls seeming to cave in on me, the open space feeling so tight, the chandelier looking as if it could fall on me and crush me in my guilt.

"Uh..." Pit mentioned with a teasing laugh, "Fountain of Dreams was decommissioned, remember?" The tone in his voice was so much more mocking replaying in my head, as if he was on to something.

Damn bastard.

"Oh, yeah," I chuckled. "I really screwed him up- screwed that up."

Oh god. I couldn't say anything. Every time I spoke, the bird's controversy song was all that came out of my own mouth. If I killed him to silence him, it was worthless. It all was for naught.

Fox gave me an eyebrow raise, but didn't hold it and instead pulled out his phone, and I knew who he was calling. He stated it anyway. "I'm gonna call Falco, see what's keeping him up."

It was like being spoiled on a juicy season finale and then watching it with friends. You know full well who's going to die, but you're stuck watching your friends being led into the realization themselves, ever so slowly.

Just make it stop...

Amid friendly chatter, Fox held up the phone, and we all could hear the voicemail message. "You got Falco Lombardi. I'll call you later. Bye." Very impersonal, and just hearing the ghost's voice was agonizing. I was squirming in my seat.

Fox's face had already fallen somewhat. "Falco never lets it go to voicemail," he mumbled. "If he doesn't want to talk, he'll answer, say 'Not talking right now,' and hang up. Same way, every time." He snapped his phone shut and declared quietly "Something's gone wrong."

"What do you mean?" Peach tried to handle the situation, while Ike clumsily made his way over to me, keeping a slight distance. Did he know? He gave me that look again and mumbled "Listen, Sam... I have something to tell you."

Before he could, Peach announced "Okay, guys, we're going to have to figure out where Falco is. I'm gonna call Nana and let her know-" Oh no. No. No no no. No!

It occurred to me that I was shouting this out loud, and that I had gotten my pistol out and I had shot her in the arm, causing a shill scream from her.

"Samus!" Fox confronted me in his leader like, levelheaded way. "What are you doing? What's wrong with your head? Are you mentally hurt?" Like someone trying to help, not insult. He doesn't know what I did to him.

So stupid! How is he so stupid! Stupid! I aim the gun at his chest and before he can say anything else, he falls to the ground silently, dead.

Zelda shrieked, but almost completely out of my control, she was the next to fall at my hand, a bullet in her head as she mumbled Link's name in last moment's desperation. Link looked on in silent horror, and then determination as he faced me, drawing his sword. He's going to confront me, the woman with a gun? Cocky bastard! He was always so silent, so afraid to talk, but considers himself so brave? Such a hero? Sickening. Before he could lunge at me, I shot him in the chest. Blood spurted out instantly and he fell to the ground next to his love. Before Pit could even react, the mocking angel is on the ground, dead as well. Because of me.

It is all out of my control. Must keep the bird's song silent.

With a vicious hatred, I zeroed in on Marth next. He started pleading. "Please, Samus, please don't shoot me! I don't want to die! I thought you loved me! I thought we had something!" Altea's beloved prince turned into such a pitiful, perverted creature? Not even thinking that I was the one who came on to him, that it was my fault that he succumbed to passion, I shot him in a blind rage, and he shrieked in pain, falling to the ground and passing out in misery. I realized that I had shot him in the privy, and that made me want to vomit, however fitting it was.

I knew now what I must do. I could not bear to think of it as I zoom in on Ike, who looked destroyed. His true love was now a killer. And there was nothing he can do about it. He looked on in surrender, not even trying to escape. He had no reason to live, in his mind. It was tormentuous. I couldn't stand it, and I shot him in twisted mercy. As the bullet started to shoot out, he said "I love you, Samus," and then he was dead.

All the love I had destroyed! The lives! It was all gone! I had destroyed it all! All for what? It destroyed me inside, and I crumpled to the ground in despair, when I heard a voice. Weak, broken, confused.

"Samus... Samus..."

I realized that I had only wounded Peach. My best friend. Someone I loved as if she was my own. Writing in pain. But her voice... still caring. Confused. Knowing I wasn't in my right mind.

I killed your friends! People you cared about, who you loved! Why do you still care?

"Samus... I'm so sorry..." she mumbled, crying. "It's... it's all my fault."

Her fault? No! It wasn't! Could never be! No! She continued before I could beg her to stop convincing herself of that. "...all because... me and Ike... I betrayed you... cheated with him... I... don't know why... I'm so sorry... so so sorry..."

That is when it dawned on me that if Ike had found out, it may have been able to work out. Admitting our mistakes, finding we were equal in our wrongs, and taking the shards and rebuilding our stain glass window. A stain glass masquerade, a mask of shards, now completely broken as well.

I never had to kill Falco. Or anyone.

The realization overwhelmed me, and before I could stop it, I fired every round of my pistol in the sky, and they flew up in the air before clattering to the ground in a harmless metal rain. I couldn't do it. I was too weak. I fell over, onto my knees, the death of all that I knew littering and contrasting the crystalline restaurant. Bitterly, I sobbed "No, Peach, no no no no…"

"I'm so sorry." Her voice fell down into a hoarse whisper.

"No, Peach, I did it. I killed him… because he was gonna tell everyone… what I did…" the bird's song bursted out of my throat. Heartbroken, halfway realization coursed through her eyes, but she still lacks the hatred she should have. How could she not hate me? How could she have mercy on me? How could she possibly love me so much… after what I had done?

I faced the door, not knowing what was next, and then I heard a new young voice.

"Sorry I'm late guys," Nana's voice rang out through the hall before she rounded the bend. "The bus was seriously late and-" the young stopped dead in her tracks as she saw the horror before her.

"Go…" I heard Peach moan towards Nana.

She wasn't going anywhere, though. With a blood-piercing shriek, she fell to the ground in a faint.

I didn't shoot her. I couldn't, even if I had the ammo. I couldn't kill either of them. I heard Peach mumble "Go… Sam… go…" before she fell unconscious; I hope at least that's all it was. She had been addressing me; telling me to escape.

I didn't want to leave her to deal with my sin, but everything in my body urged me to leave, and that's what I did. I leapt out the window, breaking it, and I ran down the hill, through the streets, and out of the city, and kept running, and running and running.

I never stop running. I am still running. Weeks go by, and by some un-natural force, I cannot stop myself. My feet bleed and are extremely weak, but in shell-shocked panic, I go on. I fear that I will be found out, but what I am doing is worse than being shot by a firing squad.

I still cannot stop, though. I have the pistol with me, but cannot fire it upon myself or reach for it. Just continue to run.

I cannot speak, either. The bird's song is all that is on my concealed tongue, and I cannot sing it to anyone, even though the world knows it by now.

And that is how it will stay. Forever.

It stays that way for what feels like forever, but in a sudden, unpredictable flash, it all turns black, not unlike the moment you fall asleep; you're awake, drowsy one minute and the next you are in your dreams, and you never see it coming.

I wake up in a hospital bed; and I think first off that I am out of any danger. I have forgotten everything that has happened, and it is a blissful moment until a detective walks into the room. I fall into an unmoving state, my eyes widening. The heavyset, short-haired detective, with those probing, piercing eyes that make me feel like my soul is being watched and he can hear my thoughts, takes a seat on a hospital chair, an ugly mauve color, next to my bed.

He is up front about it. "We know you've done it," he states, bland and emotionless, but his eyes are clouded. "We've linked your DNA to the gun used to kill your friends, and your DNA on the body of the bipedal bird at the bottom of the lake."

I'm not quite in my right mind; not quite present. "Peach…" I mumble.

"She made it out by the skin of her teeth," he tells me. "Prince Marth has also survived, but is seriously handicapped and also infertile. Quite a harsh way to shoot someone, I must admit." His gaze takes on some form of amusement, dark, dark amusement.

He leans closer to me, and I feel so drastically uncomfortable, even though I don't think he's going to hurt me. "What we don't know is why you did it," he continues. "Why you decided to kill so many of your friends, people who everyone in the city knows meant so much to you. Frankly, I'm questioning your sanity at this point. We can just end all this now, and then see what happens. Not going to be good, but you can keep it from getting any worse. You're in pretty bad shape as it is. You're barely here- we were forced to use extreme action to take you down, and it was by the grace of God I avoided killing you." The last statement is made with a regretful look. Why does everyone regret what they've done to me.

"You're tethered to life support, and we're lucky to get you awake for this long. Due to the emergency of the situation, I confronted you as soon as possible. You wouldn't last that long at all off of this, so be careful, and just tell me everything." It is then I realize that I am hooked up to many tubes and such things that are barely keeping me alive.

His look is somewhat empathic, willing to understand. But how could he ever understand? He may as well try. But first…

Before anyone can stop me, I've started to disconnect all the tubes and wires connected to me. The detective, in panic, tries to stop me, but he forgets that I'm a powerful bounty hunter, and I hold him off as I yank out everything connected to me, gritting through the pain, and throwing them all on the ground.

"Doctor!" the detective calls! "Can I get a doctor in here? Alex! Get me a doctor!" he calls to who I guess to be his partner.

"On it, Robert!" she shouts back, and I hear rapid footsteps leading out of the hall. Robert is taken by my actions, and desperately trying to re-connect me to the life support machines. However, he does not know what to do, and throws them down in anger. "Why?" he shouts, angered.

"We're on… my terms now…"

It's the first time I hear my voice in weeks, and soon to be one of the last.

"…the bird… came by… and sang about what I became… and I said I wouldn't do it again…" I cough as Robert tries to rectify the situation, unsuccessfully, "but he sang louder, so loud, I was afraid the neighbors would hear."

"Someone!" he shouts out the hall, when I take a break to breathe weakly. "Anyone!" When I speak again, he stops for a moment, listening.

"I held him down, broke his neck… taught him a lesson he wouldn't forget…" my words are marred by hacking coughs… "but in my dreams… began to creep…"

I feel all my strength seeping out, and Robert is distantly calling for help, and I hear footsteps coming in towards me. I do not know whether I live or die as I drift into blackness and mumble what could be my last words…

"that old familiar… tweet… tweet… tweet…"

**A/N This is much darker than anything I will ever freaking write again. This is probably the fastest fanfic, ever, taking me 5 minutes to conceptualize and plan out (after hearing Birdsong) and then an hour and a half of marathon writing to write.**

**Really, the song captivated me, possessed me. Freaky, but true. Birdsong, when knowing it's symbolic of a potential real life situation, is haunting. And coupled with recent events IRL (don't ask, it's not life-destroying or even directly related to me, but this is a way of coping, I suppose) I found myself dragged on a hell ride.**

**As stated, this takes influence from PitFTW and Pikana, in their darker works. And like I said, this is probably a one-time thing.**

**Anyway, I have three oneshots halfway done (postponed for my possession) and will post them slowly. Hopefully, the contest will be up today, or right after/before this. At the moment I type this, it's not, but seriously close.**

**Thanks for reading- I apologize for the nightmares.**

**MoD**


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